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Forum:Deliberation on Ending
Though the ending to Dead Space is left very much a cliff hanger and open to discussion, many players have come to a few almost definitive possibilities. 1. The attacking Necromorph may be in fact Nicole Brennan come to make Isaac whole, which in itself is not clear. 2. Isaac is having a hallucination of attack due to the effects of the Marker seemingly in keeping with what Kendra Daniels was saying shortly before her passing. 3. The entire ending roughly from just before Kendra's speech is a hallucination or at least parts of it. 4. The attacker is in fact Nicole and she is making her and Isaac "whole" by infecting him. Discussion So each seems plausible by some standard, so here's some points I'd like to put forward supporting each. 1. From the "full" version of Nicole's Distress Call/Suicide Note she is dead and the In-game Easter Egg would agree with this point. Of course the dead on the ship Ishimura then become Necromorph's after a short period. How she manages to get onto the shuttle is somewhat a mystery, although the shuttle has been stationary on the ship for sometime so her Necromorphed form could have been in wait for some time. (Depending upon the process of morphing and time taken to do so.) So she just happened to come about at the end of the game. It is also not clear where she made her final message but due to the quiet of the setting and seemingly small area she could have placed herself in the shuttle and eventually took her own life after sometime and thus took time to morph and then navigate her way through the ship. 2. The marker creates a hallucination from the victim's own mind and so believing Nicole to be dead and having an apparently free moment. But due to the revelation of safety Issac cannot escape the effects of the Marker (for the moment at least) and begins another hallucination. Considering that he could have had a number of vivid dreams about Nicole having been in such close proximity to the marker and for so long without passing gives strong support for this possibility. Also on this point notice, if you will, that the marker is almost directly outside of the shuttle during takeoff and so would be powerful in its hallucinogenic power over Isaac. But this leads to the discussion of how events in the game do not match with this theory. For example: When Isaac departed to find the rescue beacon, the door was locked, and the control unit was on the other side, which Nicole unlocked for him. Unless he hallucinated the door being locked. Another example was when Nicole was broadcasting to Isaac when he was attempting to stop Kendra Daniels from escaping with the marker. Technology can not be affected by hallucination. Therefore, the only plausible theory is that he hallucinated that as well. 3. Also if you take the first letter of each level, you get the phrase NICOLE IS DEAD. Discuss. 4.'''Another theory is that Nicole is actually a necrmorph but she still has limited control of her body and mind. This would explain how she could open up all the locked doors for Isaac. Isaac just hallucinated her like she was alive and the marker weakened the necromorph part of her so she could have some control of here body. When Isaac escaped in the shuttle, the piece of aegis 7 that was hooked onto the Ishimura fell onto the planet destroying the marker. With markers effect totally destroyed, The necromorph Nicole attacked Isaac and most likely killed him. Though this makes a sequel with Isaac impossible. Off the Wall Discussion This is purely speculation but could it be that she was infected and the poison she took hindered the progress of the infection enabling her to do everything she does in the game? It would explain how she is able to manipulate her environment and explain how she was able to board the craft on Aegis 7 and only attack Isaac and no one else who entered the craft previously. The only question remaining then would be how she survived while the necromorphs continued to attack her as she does not appear to have a weapon. Some Interesting Points to Think About Here are some things I realized while playing which have made me wonder if there is ANY adequate explanation for the game's ending... what do you think? '''1. First of all, concerning Nicole's first appearance when she unlocks the door for Isaac on the mining deck: she is undoubtedly not a hallucination, she is actually there and alive. While it could have been possible that Isaac was just hallucinating that the door was locked, and then hallucinated that he saw it being unlocked by Nicole, and "defended" her by shooting at hallucinations of necromorphs which attack her, there is one thing that fouls this up. When the necromorphs attacking Nicole are killed, they drop supplies which Isaac can then grab using kinesis and pick up. These supplies are definitely real - the credits can be spent at the Store, the ammunition can be loaded into weapons and used to kill necromorphs or break things, and the air/health/stasis packs can be used to replenish their respective gauges. These things could only be done with real items; real items could only be dropped by real necromorphs; and real necromorphs would not attack something only Isaac could see - therefore, Nicole someone was definitely really there when Isaac first saw them. Either that, or at some point before he gets on the lift that goes over the chasm, Isaac starts to have a huge hallucination about everything that's happening and imagines that he's going across the chasm, meeting Nicole, and doing the rest of the game, using his imaginary credits/ammo on imaginary Stores/enemies and such, while he is actually curled up on the floor in a supply closet somewhere. Or maybe the entire game is a hallucination or dream. Of course, these would both be a pretty stupid way for the story to go, so we must assume that Nicole is not a hallucination the first time he sees her in person. Lending further support to this is the fact that she does not implore him to "make us whole again", or exhibit any of the other signs of being an illusion created by the Marker to coax him into taking it back to the planet. This brings up the next point. On a somewhat related note, this is also where you find the audio log where Temple and Cross are united. This may or may not be related to Nicole's appearance on this deck as well. 2. It is very unlikely that the necromorphed Nicole that attacks Isaac is a hallucination. Though the Marker was extremely close to Isaac right before he blasts off in the shuttle, by the time necro-Nicole appears, he is definitely way out in space and much farther from it than he had ever been while he was on the Ishimura. More to the point, the shuttle wasn't the only thing right next to the Marker - there was also a humongous chunk of rock smashing into the planet and causing a massive explosion. While it may have been modeled after an alien device, and maybe even used the same materials to build it, I doubt the Marker could survive through having something that size landing on top of it and exploding. I also don't think the Marker could continue to create hallucinations if it was totally obliterated - and even if it could, I don't think it would be enough of a jerk to mess with Isaac like that. So it is probably safe to guess that the necro-Nicole is actually there, in the cockpit, attacking Isaac. However, there's one more thing that even calls that into question. 3. If the hive mind is dead, shouldn't all the necromorphs cease to function? After all, they were all being controlled by it telepathically - I would assume that once it had died, they would all basically become dormant. And even if Isaac had only wounded the Hive Mind or something and caused it to retreat but it was still alive, it also had the gigantic piece of Aegis VII fall on it and explode shortly thereafter. So, like the Marker, it is probably safe to assume that the Hive Mind is out of the picture as well - which leaves the remaining necromorphs quite literally brain-dead. And yet Necro-Nicole, who for some reason had not bothered Kynes, Kendra or Isaac in any of their earlier trips on the shuttle, comes out of nowhere and flings herself at Isaac. And so, as far as I can tell, we are left with only the possibilities of (a) the whole thing or most of it is a hallucination/dream, or (b) the writers didn't realize these things when making the ending. I'm not saying these are the ONLY possible explanations - I am just saying those are the only ones I can think of right now, and I'm bringing up these points so that people can help to figure out explanations which are more satisfying than the two I listed. In conclusion: How could Nicole have still been alive when Isaac meets her on the mining deck; at what point did she become a necromorph; how many times when we saw her was she just a hallucination; why did she not attack Kynes, Kendra, or Isaac when they had been flying the shuttle before; and why is she even there and functioning, since she very likely can't be a hallucination, and the Hive Mind is very likely dead? :Have you ever heard the term psychological trauma? Disregarding the events in the game, I think it's safe to assume that Necro-Nicole is an hallucination, not caused by the Hive Mind or the Marker but by sheer psychological paranoia. Right before it ends, in fact, we can see the sequence where Isaac takes his helmet off again, as though the attack had not occured. It's not unlikely that after going through everything he did, Isaac will be scarred for life, and the knowledge that his girlfriend was dead all along might be enough to make him wonder if she's a Necromorph too-- and whoa there she is augh my face! There's also the fact that Necro-Nicole is significantly more recognizable than other Necromorphs to the point where it's unlikely she actually is one. If she were a Slasher, her head, especially her mouth, would not be so intact. Unless she's a brand new breed anyway. Ergo it makes more sense if she's not real and is just a product of Isaac's imagination. :As for the actual events of the game, I think that (real) Necromorphs attacked an hallucination only Isaac could see because they were trying to dispel it. Ergo the Necromorphs will play along just fine because that's what they do: obey the Hive Mind. Let's face it: if an hallucination is helping Isaac get out of there and get the Marker back to the planet, that's more than enough reason for the Hive Mind to try and fight it so that it stops assisting Isaac. The locks were possibly hallucinated as well. As for the shuttle control area, other than Nicole telling Isaac to go there, her intervention was not necessary; all he did was press the shuttle recall button. Same story on the planet; all she did was tell him what to do, he did all the work. :In short: If I had to guess, Nicole was an hallucination all along created by the Marker to help Isaac return it to the planet. The Hive Mind tried hindering that by having its pawns attack the hallucination. Lastly, Necro-Nicole was not real, but was a product of Isaac's head following intense psychological torture after spending so much time on the Ishimura tearing corpses apart and watching people die, only to learn his girlfriend was dead all along. ::The first point, as to Nicole not being real, is very likely the case. If the Hivemind was controlling all of the Necromorphs with its death it seems to make sense they'd either go berserk and destroy everything or simply go dormant. She looks more like an actual animated corpse than she does a Necromorph. So unless something bizarre like her being infected but the Hivemind dying before she could fully transform allowing her to become a free-willed Necromorph occured it seems that this can be ruled out. ::Real Necromorphs attacking a hallucination that only Isaac can see doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. If only Isaac can see it then anyone else reacting to it seems unlikely. If Nicole is actually a hallucination at that point in the game then its far more likely that he is transposing Nicole on someone else. Perhaps there is someone else on the Ishimura that Isaac knew and when the person greets him and attempts to help him out Isaac imagines (or the Marker makes him see) Nicole standing there. The Hivemind doesn't exactly radiate subtlety so if there was an imaginary thing there, even if the Hivemind could sense it, it seems more likely that it would simply summon up a whole huge swarm of Necromorphs to wipe out Isaac rather than dispelling a hallucination. However only a few Necromorphs actually attack Isaac during that situation. Also at no point does Nicole mention the "make us whole" line that is used non-stop by the hallucinations of the Marker. So it seems that if that wasn't actually Nicole (which is likely considering the easter egg) then it was probably some sort of hallucination. :::Actually, Nicole speaks those words at least five times thorough the game. Two that I can recall offhand are when Isaac sees video screens (on his RIG or on the Ishimura itself) showing Nicole asking for his help. In both encounters with her 'physical' form she also speaks the line 'make us whole' after blurting out 'please help me' or some variant thereof. Lastly, when Isaac returns the Marker to its pedestal, Nicole appears, thanks Isaac for making them whole again, and disappears into the Marker. As for why the Hive Mind didn't just conjure up Necromorphs to end Isaac, isn't that what it's been doing the whole game? Obviously the Necromorphs who went after the hallucination were there to distract Isaac. You'll notice that the ones that show up to attack Isaac show up RIGHT AFTER ones that appear by Nicole, forcing Isaac to think quickly and either save Nicole and risk taking damage or save his hide and risk Nicole taking damage. Of course Isaac proves too badass for this diversion, but the point remains that it was an acceptable tactic when you see it this way. I can't count how often in the game Slashers, Leapers and Lurkers try to lure Isaac into traps. The Hive Mind is incredibly cunning. As for how it could tell there was an hallucination of Nicole there, it's simply possible that it's sufficiently powerful on a psychic level to do that. **** Will Continue ASAP **** Category:Content